Daddy's Manicure
by They-Want-Me-To-Tap-Dance
Summary: When the famous Harry Potter, Head of Auror Office, comes into work with colorfully painted fingernails, many questions arise amongst members of the Auror Office. Far from shame, Harry explains in a matter-of-fact tone the things he lets his children do to him for the sake of playtime. Rated T just in case.


Anaubrey Shannon © 2013

Harry Potter © JK Rowling

I don't own Harry Potter, I'm just making his daughter paint his finger nails.

I figure that Harry would be an outstanding parent considering how starved for affection he was for the first 10 years of his life. I imagine that, within reason, Harry would let his children get away with some traditionally odd activities for the sake of entertaining them.

* * *

Harry Potter was the fiercest Auror in the department. There was no question about it that he knew how to do his job, and he did it well. Anyone who thought otherwise was quickly proven wrong, and trainees and coworkers in the department alike clamored to have any opportunity to watch Harry duel during practice. The trainees who knew how to conjure a Patronus in shield form were few and far between, and being the young man who mastered the conjuring of a corporeal Patronus at the age of thirteen, Harry usually oversaw that portion of training exclusively as a part of the Defense against the Dark Arts section.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind which person would succeed Kingsley Shacklebolt as Head of the Auror department when it became clear that the Wizarding community wanted Kingsley to stay Minister for Magic, and Harry Potter succeeded him in his 30's.

Aside from continuing to assist during training and keeping up a daily routine, Harry's job was mostly confined to paperwork. There was very little field activity since his defeat of Lord Voldemort so many years ago, and most anyone who had wanted to become the next big threat to the community was quickly apprehended. None of them had any intentions of seeking immortality since Tom Riddle.

Harry was genial and friendly, but generally a very stoic personage around the office. He was very soft-spoken and not at all what the tabloids had portrayed him as during his adolescence. One thing everyone knew about this man was that he was a proud father of three children, all of whom he adored.

A coworker, Derek Patten, had brought in paperwork to Harry's office to be filed regarding new discoveries by the Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. Harry gestured him in, still intent on what was in front of him, and Derek noticed that his nails were painted in rainbow, color changing nail polish. This struck Derek as odd, and questioned him on it against his better judgment.

"Sir? Have you painted your fingernails?"

Momentarily struck by the question, Harry took a moment to observe his nails.

"Yes, Patten, my nails are painted. My daughter Lily painted them, actually. She certainly isn't discriminatory against any color, hm?" said Harry, smiling and wiggling his fingers. It was obvious that he was far from shame.

Now that the topic was underway, Derek wanted to know more.

"Why would you let her do such a thing?"

"Because she wanted to." replied Harry in a matter-of-fact tone, looking at Derek as though all fathers were obliged to let their daughters paint their nails if they asked. "She would have been sad otherwise, and it isn't a blow to my masculinity that you perceive it as."

A reminiscent smile crossed Harry's features and he began to list in an almost deadpan manner all the things he had let his children do to him when he played with them.

"I remember one time my godson Teddy was still growing into his Metamorphosing powers, and he discovered that he could put temporary glamours on other people that lasted about an hour or so. He made my hair grow a mile long, and Lily braided it, and the boys used it to skip rope. I recall Ginny wanting to pour a bottle of Sleakeazy's on it to see if it would lie flat."

Oblivious to Derek's widening gaze, Harry continued.

"Another time, we were reenacting 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune' as a family for Ginny's relatives at Yule, and Lily wanted to be the Knight, so Albus, James, and I were the Witches. I looked bloody fabulous in that frock, come to think of it."

Derek Patten couldn't help but smile at the thought of Harry Potter in a frock, speaking his lines in a falsetto voice.

"You are imagining me wearing a frock, aren't you?" Harry cut in with a smile to an abashed Derek.

"Are you accomplished in Legilimency, sir?"

"Yes, but I didn't use it. Even I would be envisioning me in a frock if someone shared that information with me. By all means, continue to do so in your own time, Patten, but I need that file you have clutched in your sadly unadorned fingers. I think you still have a lot of work to get done before the day is over, and so do I." Harry said not unkindly, but in a way that made it clear that Patten was dismissed.

The things the great Harry Potter let his children do to him for the sake of playtime left no room for doubt that he absolutely adored his children and indulged in every minute.


End file.
